Untitled
by HillBot
Summary: Young Sanji helps out a young boy in an alleyway.


Title: Untitled

Pairing: Slight Sanji/Zoro

Disclaimer: Not Oda

Notes: This isn't my best work. I found it half written in my WIP folder and I like it right up to the break but after that I feel like I digressed. I wasn't quite sure how to end it. I've got another WIP that I'll hopefully get up sometime soon but I'm not sure how I feel about that one either so let me know what you guys think, okay? Be honest.

The small blonde boy walked down the street, trademark lollipop in mouth, humming a tune he didn't know the words to (his foster father, Zeff, whistled it while he cooked but Sanji had just lost one of his front teeth so when he tried to whistle all he did was spray sticky spittle on anyone who came near him). Sanji was heading down to the book store like he had every single day for the past couple of months. It had become somewhat of a ritual in his daily life. He'd go down the street from Zeff's restaurant to press his face against the glass window display and just stare at the book.

_All Blue: Ocean of Dreams._

Sanji had been absolutely _dying_ to get his hands on the thick volume. It told of a beautiful legendary ocean somewhere on the Grand Line. He used to enter the store and thumb through the gilded pages all the time, staring longingly at all the exotic fishes the All Blue supposedly held. The shopkeeper, sick of Sanji pawing at the book everyday without ever actually buying anything barred the boy from the store, telling him to come back when he had some actual money.

After nearly two months of longing for the book, Sanji was finally ready to make his purchase. The previous nights visit from the "Tooth Fairy" ("I'm already nine, old man! You think I still believe in that crap?") had upped his financial situation considerably. The money he found under his pillow plus all of the allowance he had been saving was just enough. He could finally afford _All Blue_. Sanji was just about to leave Zeff's restaurant to make his daily walk to the bookstore and he wouldn't let anything stop him now-

_AHHH! CRASH! BANG! CLATTER!_

A loud noise came from the alleyway in between Peterson's General Store and Zeff's restaurant. He moved a little closer towards the alley, wary of any danger. He wasn't afraid, the Old Man had taught him how to fight, but still it was better to be safe than sorry. He peeked slowly around the corner expecting to see a gang fight, or a pack of wild dogs, or maybe even a ninja. He really hadn't expected to see a dirty green-haired boy crying in the middle of a pile of garbage. There was a stack of old newspapers sitting near the upended trash can. They were probably used as a makeshift step stool so the boy could dig around in the filth. _He must have slipped... What an idiot._

Sanji looked longingly at the book store that was so, _so_ close. He wanted _All Blue_ so badly but he couldn't just leave the kid.

"Hey, are you alri-"

"USSEI! I'M NOT CRYING!"

Sanji put his hands up in surrender and took a step back. He watched as the boy scrubbed fiercely at his face trying to rub away the tears but all he really accomplished was making a few more black smudges on his cheeks. He stood up and brushed at his pants which looked like they hadn't been washed in_ ages_ and started walking past Sanji. He didn't make it more than three steps before his stomach growled painfully and he fell to his knees clutching at his middle.

_He was digging for food..._

Sanji looked at the boy on the ground struggling to stand back up on his hunger weakened legs, felt the money burning a hole in his pocket, and he knew what he had to do.

_All Blue will just have to wait..._

_

* * *

_

Four days after meeting the dirty boy in the alley Sanji lost his other front tooth. He put it under his pillow and went to sleep knowing he would have some money for his _All Blue _book fund come tomorrow morning.

However, when Sanji awoke the next morning and reached under his pillow he didn't feel the smooth, crisp bills he had been expecting. Instead his hand met a solid object. He pulled the item out from under his pillow and his eyes widened. _All Blue: Ocean of Dreams. _He glanced at the single photograph sitting on his nightstand of he and Zeff and smiled before cracking open the book and reading until the Old Man finally barged into his room and yelled at him for being late to his dish duty. Still smiling, Sanji went straight to the kitchen without arguing with the man.


End file.
